The game by default does not give you the in-game timer. To unlock it, you must first have finished the game. After rolling the credits, you can find it under the stairs in the room with the clock. The timer can then be turned on in the settings. The timer is required to submit runs.

Hi all! The speedrunning community for Animal Well has already been using a section of the main Animal Well discord to discuss speedrunning the game.

You can join here

Be sure to select "speedrunning" as an interest when joining so you can see the appropriate channels.

This is all the currently known glitches and strats in the game.

[Last Updated: May 16, 2024]

Opening and closing the book

During the game, a lot of animations like flowers growing and watering plants prevent the player from interacting with other objects, but if you open and close the book at the right time it allows you to interact with objects. A couple of places where this is particularly helpful is the Cradle Fern (after ringing the bells) and the Oscilette (playing the gramophone). Thank you to Gelly for the video.

Lowering Elevator in Tower While Plant Grows

While this can be accomplished by opening and closing the book after opening the final window, it can also be done without the book if you are able to click "down" quickly (this has tight timing). If you are very quick with the timing, it is possible for the elevator to reach the ground floor while the herbarium shows you that the flower grew. I would recommend using the method of closing and opening the book for this if you are new to the run.

Library Lock Offsetting Camera Glitch

After inputting the code into the library lock (must be done after reading the letter that lets you unlock the door), it is possible to offset the player's camera. Doing this allows you to see through walls. While this doesn't let you open most doors, it does let you open a side door outside to access the Chapter 5 area. Unfortunately, this does not save time as the Herbarium still needs all the plants in order to complete the game, but it is interesting nonetheless. A use for it may be found in the future. Thank you to Gelly for the videos.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Even if this glitch is not currently used in runs, it is good to know it exists so you don't do it on accident in a run.

Alt + Enter Door Clip (Discovered on May 16, 2024)

If you press Alt + Enter, you can clip through normally locked or closed doors. This only works on the PC version of the game.

Thank you to Artisiole for the video.

I'll update this post if more things are found in the future. Join the discord if you have any questions!

I accidentally found a glitch where if you pause as the bullet hits an animal it prevents the game from entering slow motion for the next shot. Everything in the environment moves at normal speed and the bullet speeds up (I'm pretty sure?). They can be chained together too. Didn't seem to work for people (at least in the first level). Haven't tried it in other levels with animals yet.

Hi all!

The plan is to open up the leaderboards for Any% a little bit after the release day of April 9th to allow players to play through the game casually and for rules and strategies to be established for runs. Additional categories may be added after release depending on the game and interest in the community.

Currently Demo Any% is available on the leaderboards.

Discord: The current plan is to use a channel within the official Botany Manor discord labeled #speedrun. (If there's enough interest or a need, a separate discord will be created.) Discord Link

If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to leave it on a forum here or in the discord.